Tostitos Fiesta Bowl

#10 Ohio St. (10-2) vs. #3 Texas (11-1)

Jan. 5, 7:00 p.m. (Fox)
Favorite: Texas by 8

The Texas Longhorns and Ohio State Buckeyes will face each other for the third time in the last four seasons on January 5th in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. Splitting the home-and-home series back in 2005 and 2006, the two teams will get the chance to settle the score on the field. The Longhorns are disappointed to be here while the Buckeyes have been embarrassed the last two seasons in BCS championship games, which team will show up in Glendale, Arizona motivated and ready?

As in seasons past, Ohio State relies on a dominating defense and their running game to win games. Behind captains and All-Americans James Laurinaitis and Malcolm Jenkins the OSU defense is in the top 10 nationally in several categories including total defense and scoring defense. On the other side of the football true freshman blue chipper Terrelle Pryor has started at quarterback since the USC loss and got better every week. Pryor is good, but running back Chris “Beanie” Wells is both the star and the workhouse who lugged it for over 1,000 yards this season despite missing three games.

The Horns are of course led by Heisman finalist QB [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag]. McCoy and the Texas offense lit up scoreboards all season long even without a consistent rushing attack. McCoy found his favorite targets [tag]Quan Cosby[/tag] and [tag]Jordan Shipley[/tag] to the tune of 3,445 yards and 32 TDs while blowing away Daunte Culpepper’s completion percentage record. The Texas defense has been re-energized by head coach in waiting [tag]Will Muschamp[/tag]. Thanks to the outstanding play by Nagurski Trophy winner [tag]Brian Orakpo[/tag] and [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag] the defense has been a strength despite extreme youth in the secondary. They match-up well against the Buckeyes as the nation’s number two rushing defense.